


It's Been a Long (long time)

by ChaoticBabe



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 8.01, Gen, Protective Siblings, Stark Siblings - Freeform, The North Remembers (ASoIaF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 13:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18700669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticBabe/pseuds/ChaoticBabe
Summary: Jon returns to the North, and finds unexpected changes in his siblings.





	It's Been a Long (long time)

**Author's Note:**

> Love them stark siblings but, I kind of want to go inside Jon's head because he's made some dumb decisions lately. Not for Danny fans, I normally have no problem with her, but coming to another country you have never stepped foot in and say Kneel or Burn, well that's problematic. (I like her better in the books another words)

"She's the smartest person I've ever met."

"You're defending her? You?"

"She's defending her family."

"I'm her family too."

" _Don't forget that_."

Jon had come home to a Winterfell he did not recognize. Maybe even more so than when those bastard Bolton's took over.

Growing up Jon and Arya had been inseparable, both outcast within their own family, finding comfort in each other with their similar looks and looking in from the side lines. She had loved him best, and he her. Yet now it felt as if their was a rift between them, that had to do with more than the years that separated them.

Arya was defending Sansa. 

Defending Sansa to him.

Not a day ago he might have laughed at the idea. Growing up the two of them had _always_ been at odds. Rare was the day that they did not quarrel. One the perfect picture of lady like propriety, and the other half wild, a little wolf wearing a girls skin.

By the look of Arya she had undoubtedly changed - how couldn't she- quiet were she once was loud, still were there had always been movement. There was also a certain confidence there that hadn't been before. It was a different Arya to be sure but still her, still unladylike. She openly wore pants, and Sansa didn't bat an eyelash- another thing he might have believed impossible.

No as he watched the two of them from afar he could see a bond between them, trust in one another.

Things were not how he had expected them.

He knew the North would have problems with their king Kneeling to a Southern Queen. He even Expected Sansa to be openly unhappy as she was, disapproving of his choices, but somehow unconsciously he had assumed Arya would be on _his_ side. 

She always had been before.

Little Sister how you've changed.

She still greeted him warmly, open arms and joy in her face. So for that he would be grateful for, Jon didn't know what he would have done if she hadn't.

But she hadn't come to meet the new queen. On some level he wasn't surprised, Arya had never held a high opinion of royalty or noble born. He had been her favorite brother after all, and only a bastard.

_"She's just defending her family."_

The words kept ringing in his head.

Defending them from what, he had brought home their best hope to defeat the white walkers. Even still he was unsure they would survive.

Yet both of them acted as if he had committed some great betrayal, worse an act of complete stupidity. He could almost hear the words ringing in his head now, You Know Nothing Jon Snow.

Know nothing indeed.

Are they right, had he bent the knee too easily? Was there even any going back?

Without his notice once again, she really was scary good at sneaking up on a man, Arya appeared at his side.

Despite his surprise he couldn't help but give a small smile. Gods it was good to have her back, wish as he might it was under better circumstances. He hoped they would both live long enough for her to one day tell him her tale, both the good and the bad.

"You look more serious than any man should brother." Jon would never grow tired of the easy way brother rolled off her tongue for him, all his other siblings were trained ever so correctly to remember he was their half-brother.

"I always look this way, it's the Stark way as you well know." 

"No doubt, but this is a different look, I've seen it on other men before. You doubt yourself." She said the words so calmly as if she wasn't somehow tuned to his thought. But she always had been hadn't she. Maybe things were not so different as he feared.

"You might be right, I fear the coming war. I wonder if I've made the right choices." His tome was solemn even to his ears.

From the corner of his eye he could see one of her eyebrows raise at that. "You mean you're worried you bowed to the dragon queen because you wanted to fuck her." 

Jon nearly choked on his own spittle at that. 

"Arya."

"What it's true isn't it. Why else would you have? She doesn't deserve to rule simply because she has dragons. You would hardly be the first man to think with his cock, let alone the first in this family."

Jon turned to face her fully, opening his mouth to speak, defend himself, something. But Arya beat him to the punch.

Turning to look him in the eyes, without somehow looking up at him-even though he still had a few inches on her at least-, with a tone of both deep sadness and serious said,  "Just remember what that cost our family the last time. I don't want to have to go destroying another house if I don't have to, because they’ve decided to kill you.”

She let out a deep sigh, "What I'm saying is she knows nothing of the North, barely more about Westeros itself. She came here after a claim to a throne that was lost before she was even born, demanding we give it to her or die. Than dares to act as if she's the wronged party."   

Arya leaned up to kiss his cheek as he took in her words, unconsciously he leaning into her. 

"The North named you king, not her. We are tired of the south and their power plays." With a gentle squeeze of his arm she was gone.

He was left staring out at the court yard, watching men train for the coming fight.

Jon had a hard time dispelling her words, especially since they were spoken less in a tone of rebuke like Sansa used and more with emotionless reasoning. Facts stated clearly with no anger behind the words. Just helping him to see a fuller picture.

Arya was much changed, and yet still very much the same. Arya was still on his side, she still loved him.

Things were not so different as he had fear, which only left him to worry that if she spoke the truth what exactly had he done by so hastily bending to Daenerys.

It was a question for after the long night, should he survive. For now he would simply be grateful to have his family back, no matter how changed they all are. 

The lone wolf dies, but the Pack survives.

* * *

Please comment, I love hearing your thoughts.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The North really deserves to be independent, no one else but the Northerners understand it.


End file.
